Howdy fellow SW Gardeners!

Looks like our garden is in full swing. Squash, Beans and cantaloupe starting to flower, and everything stretching out to soak up the sunshine.



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Hope your Independence Day was fantastic!

Hi Gina, you have a fantastic garden as usual!
We had to have a new well drilled, so we didn't get my garden area fenced. I'm hoping to have it fenced in time for a Fall garden.

Good morning Karen!

I'm so happy to hear that your well issue is behind you! Our Summer garden is doing well even without the sun shade yet. I always seem to crowd my beds more than they ought to be, but so what, right? What I'm most excited about this year is the corn! I hope the cows or jack rabbits don't decide to bust down my make-shift fence to get to it. So, with a little luck, we will be crunching down on some sweet corn soon! That, or feeding the wildlife.

Oh, and I'm doing Okra for the first time, too, Karen. I love them pickled. But, for now it's exciting to see what they do! Slow growers so far.

Stay cool, my friend!

I hope your corn turns out to be wonderful! Yum!
I'm not an okra lover, but maybe I haven't had it cooked properly. I'm always up to try again if you have a good recipe.

Karen,

I've only had Okra pickled, and I'm a big fan of it. I don't know if its a refrigerator style pickle, or processed/canned. However, the ones I've had still had a crunch to them. If my harvest works out, I'll give it a try with some Cajun recipes and report back to you. Seems to be a very popular veggie in the South, but yes, it might very well be an acquired taste. From what I understand, peeps don't seem to like the texture.

I am very excited about the corn! Keeping my fingers crossed!

Enjoy your day.

Thanks, you enjoy yours too! Hope it's not too hot there. We have been much hotter than usual here. It never used to go over 100 very often here at 6500 ft elevation. We've had that probably 5 days so far this summer.

I am so impressed, Gina! You are a wonderful gardener!

Karen, It's seems cooler to me this year than last summers. Hubby says that because it's still early in the season. IDK, maybe so. Fact is, anything over triple digits is too hot for us retired folks. I have big plans about putting in a pool, but it's more like a dream than a plan. However, I do have the spot in mind and isn't that how all good things begin? With a thought? Now, if I could only win an HGTV backyard makeover!!

We are at about 3500 elevation. At 6500, are you in the NM tree line? I see photos of Flagstaff and Prescott and think how beautiful! The only natural trees we have are the Joshua Trees and creasote bush. I have 5 pines on the property and another 5 that need to go in the ground. I can't believe I haven't planted them yet. They are beginning to stress in their pots. Maybe this week? I wonder if a wire surround is really necessary with the young pines? That's what's keeping us back, we don't have enough wire on property to put up a perimeter wire. Hmmmmm.

Here's to another day in the SW Paradise! Keep an eagle eye out for those desert critters! We've been chasing down the spiders after rearranging furniture. After five years, I still can't believe the sheer size of them here in the desert! I threw my shoulder out once when jumping out of my recliner after seeing one a little too close for comfort. Phil says he never saw me move so fast. It took 10-14 days to heal! SMH.

Happy Sunday, my friend!

We used to live in Flagstaff, and it was beautiful there. One year we got 96 inches of snow in 3 days. We had to shovel off the roof so it wouldn't collapse. After that my husband was ready to move.

I hope you can get your pool. It doesn't need to be huge. We had a huge one in Phx and spent most of our time sitting on the steps with a cold drink. Just being in the water feels so great when it's hot. If you really like to swim, they now have small ones where you can swim in place with a big current.

If we plant any trees we have to put them in cages. I hate that look, but it's the only way they will survive.

I agree about the huge spiders! I don't care for them either.

Good morning Linda,

Awe, thanks for the green thumb kudos! Gardening has really gotten into our blood since moving to AZ. There's just something about watching the seedlings break ground and sprout leaves that is exciting every single time it happens. I don't know if it's their fight for life that I admire, or if it's the overwhelming need to protect them. Which ever the reason, it is very rewarding and worth every bit of effort.

Hubby is a real gem as he handles the majority of watering during his morning routine. I do all the planning, planting, crop rotation, weeding, harvesting and prep/cooking. He's a real stickler about the need to turn the soil every new season, and even though I balk at the work it requires, I know he's right, so out I go with the shovel in hand. Those are the most difficult days for me and requires a long Epson salt soak in the tub afterwards. Annual maintenance takes a number of laborious days throughout the year, but my body can still handle it. It truly is a combined effort between us.

By the way, the Sweet Million tomatoes are wonderful!! I've harvested a couple of quarts twice now, although I never did get photos. They are large, firm, and very sweet! I probably have another quart, or two, on the vine. Excellent recommendation. Fantastic in our Greek salads. They are not quite as prolific as the catalogue picture (no surprise there), but still very worthwhile. Plus, they are space savers! Thank you, my friend!

I see a lot of low rosemary bushes used as landscape around here. Any idea which species I should look for? Obviously, the ones I've picked up aren't the same.

Have a wonderful Sunday, Linda.

Karen,

That's a whole lot of snow!! Wowza! The desert extremes are very real, indeed! Desert living is not for the faint or weary. Here's to your strong will and determination! And may your future winters be a little more mild. I can't imagine shoveling snow from a roof top! I'm no fan of heights, nevermind the bonus of being on a slippery slope.

Oh, to have a pool. I'd be in it everyday with cool drink in hand. Yes, those exercise current pools are splendid, aren't they? The dreams we can dream. If I had the money to have it done, I'd sign a contract and cook lunch for the crew. But, then, I'd also need a guest house! BahaHahaha.

All in all, we are very content and thankful for our little slice of paradise.

Gina so glad you liked those tomatoes. It sounds like you and your DH have a good system worked out. I gave up growing in the ground here long ago. Have a couple hundred pots I grow things in. I miss working in the ground, however. Just made a mistake of planting too many trees with invasive roots. The ground is a lost cause.

I find watching seeds progress into plants such a miracle, love to see it. Sorry I do not know much about rosemary plants.

Enjoy your Sunday as well.

Howdy SW Gardening Friends,

After realizing I lost a day in my travel preps due to a confusing red-eye flight schedule, I thought I best get out to the garden and harvest our bounty. I'll be on double-time today trying to get everything done. I'm hosting a birthday celebration tomorrow for a dear friend and then off to see my youngest son graduate from US Armed Forces Basic Training. Thank goodness I decided on my waredrobe earlier this week. If anyone can tell me that freezing cottage cheese it A-OK, you'd save me a bit of kitchen work!!

However, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share today's harvest with y'all while sipping on my last cup of java.
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I'm going to go ahead and pickle some of the arrow-straight beans as I'll be whipping up a Carolina style BBQ sauce (vinegar) for the pulled pork. Thank goodness for pre-planning the Dutch Apple pie. Bake off from frozen while I practice the two-step kitchen dance.

Hope everyone is having a super Saturday!

Congratulations to your son! 🗽

The pie sounds so good! Garden produce looks wonderful.

Howdy SW gardeners!

Another round of harvest! Got my first sugar pumpkin, butternut and cantaloupes! Looks like I have to remove some pods on the okra to get it to push out more fruit. Watermelons are little purple globes, so I need to research them a bit more. Anyway, just posting to help encourage others to grow in the blaring heat of the SW!

Butternut, cantaloupe, green bean, leek, carrot, celery, Lima beans, and pumpkin.

I am so impressed, Gina!

Your harvests are always fantastic, Gina, and you don't have a wonderful growing climate, at least not in my opinion! AZ is darned hot and dry!

Go ahead and say it, Karen. We have a lousy climate.

Arizona definitely has a challenging climate! I love it in Fall, Winter and Spring, but summers are really hard to take.

Thank you Karen and Linda! It is the harvest that makes it all worthwhile!

I was so happy with yesterday's variety! All too often it's one or two veggies by the bushel, so having a little of everything really is grand. I already baked up the carrot cake, which will be assembled later on today, and roasted the pumpkin for bread later in the week. Butternut soup is also on this week's menu.

And, of course, I agree with your take on the weather!! The summers are brutal, but it's the desert winds that really send me over the cliff. I'm ready for the funny farm come August... Thankfully, it is almost over with the morning's being pleasant enough. But, yeah, I've been rather stir crazy this month. I can't wait to get back outdoors and make some noise! I still have 11 trees to get in the ground next month and with a little luck and strategic planting, hopefully they will eventually provide a wind break of sorts. Between the gypsum, peat moss, bonemeal and rabbit manure, they should all have a decent start. Of course, no desert planting is complete without the mandatory wire to keep the jack rabbits at bay!

I have two other projects to complete before winter: laying stone for the back patio and adding sheet metal to the barn roof. If I can get these three things accomplished before the holidays arrive, I'll eat my hat! But, we gotta have a dream!

Thanks again, ladies. Here's to staying cool, and sane, between now and October!

Gina